Fenne Lily‘s sublime, delicate vocals and her superb band, Joe, Kane and James, are a joy to watch live. We caught the penultimate show on the UK leg of their tour, at the beautiful Trinity venue in Bristol, before they head off for Europe, and then USA dates, in support of their third album, Big Picture. Fenne grew up in Bristol before recently moving to USA, so this was a homecoming show and the crowd made her very welcome indeed. She also wrote all the songs for the new album in Bristol, before recording them in the USA with the band.
The set list featured many songs from the new album, alongside back-catalogue favourites, she said in response to requests from fans on socials. The new album had only been out a week but plenty in the crowd were singing along with the lyrics. The opening song, “Map of Japan”, also the opening song of the new album, sounded great live with the muscly guitar chords a treat against Fenne’s vocal. Other favourites from the latest release, “Lights Light Up”, “Pick”, and final song before encore “Half Finished” (also the final song of the album). This latter song Fenne told us actually makes her very sad when singing; All the songs were written during a 2 year relationship, and this one, as it came to an end.
Fenne chatted to the crowd frequently between songs, with honest, endearing and funny stories, from her mum going to yoga wearing her old merch t-shirt (“I Used to Hate My Body…”), to crashing her bike after a tinder date which lead to the song “Henry”. Most of the band’s parents were in the crowd, which engendered an intimacy to this homecoming show.
Returning for an encore, Fenne delighted the crowd saying she was going to play a few old-favourites, “I used to Hate my Body…”, ” Car Park”, and the final song played on her own with acoustic guitar, “Top to Toe”. The latter, the first song Fenne ever wrote and recorded, sounding absolutely stunning in an otherwise silent room, and a superb end to the show.
Photos and words by Tony Palmer (@shot_by_tony).
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